Quoting: jeremyttowne
I think Dubas is more willing to swallow $2,500,000 on Smith's contract for only a year, as opposed to a year and a half. I also think he recognized if he were to get rid of both Guentzel and Smith it would have entirely blown out the LW spot in the top 6, and significantly decreased their playoff chances. It's possible Dubas thought getting rid of Guentzel would increase Smith's role and in turn ramp up his production.
To be honest, Pettersson/Karlsson seems to be the top pairing. If you want my opinion, Letang maintains the "top pairing" role because of his history with the team. But it's evident that his and Karl's ice time is nearly identical, and Pettersson's ice time is significantly greater than Joseph's. So, adding Skjei doesn't necessarily mean he and Letang will be the top pairing. All and all, the role of "top pairing" is insignificant in this scenario.
Don't get me wrong. I would gladly retain on Smith to move him at this point. I don't think Dubas was ready to do that. I don't think he was worried about playoffs.
I don't know that he's ready to swallow that cap hit. But that all depends on what else he can bring in to play LW.
As far as top pair it depends how you define it. The pens current top 4 is not how people typically list a top 4. This is due to use. Graves spends most his time in the Dzone. His partner switches depending availability. It will never be EK. EK has no business in the Dzone and he gets the most starts of all defenders in the Ozone because of that.
If letang shifted prior, he can't double shift. So he gets the 3RD. If Letang did not shift prior.. he gets letang.
EK and Pettersson, are almost always shifted.... and typically in the Ozone.
You don't really fix the defensive problems here because you aren't solving the structural issues on the penguins. The 3rd pair here is still garbage and can not be trusted.
Shea and Ivvany are liabilities. They will be eaten alive, typically by the other teams top line starting in the our Dzone. You just can't have that. So you will get the same issues.
I want to be clear here. A top pairing can play both sides of the ice equally, or at least not a liability in any one zone. MP-EK is not a top pairing. MP is a 2LD, and EK can not play his own zone. They will never be a "shut down" pair, like a legit top pairing.
Letang is better defensively than EK, but still prone to mistakes. I'm not sure Skjei can be a shut down defender, he isn't that guy in CAR.
But either way, that pairing will be split up, because the 3rd pairing doesn't work, and they will have to find solutions by mixing and matching those pairings.
All fixes to this defense start with the 3rd pairing, no matter if it's Graves or anyone else you bring in. The 3rd pairing just doesn't function well and it's dragging the team down.